Latest Gear Live Videos
Samsung Epic 4G ad with Master Chief?
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Smartphones, Handhelds, Video Games, Videos,
If you’ve seen the new Samsung Epic 4G commercial then you might have been fooled into watching the whole thing thinking it was a new Halo: Reach commercial (raises hand). The similarities are probably not a coincidence considering Halo: Reach is set to be the biggest game of the year, and all eyes are on it right now. Knowing this, Samsung could have purposely chosen to borrow the money making look of Master Chief.
The start of the ad depicts a character bearing a strong resemblance to Halo’s Master Chief. The pseudo Chief is then chased by an alien space craft which bombards the Spartan-like clone with some heavy missile fire. Unmasking himself, the Samsung’s Spartan hops into his own aircraft, epic chase ensues. The terrain containing the massive battle is then revealed to take place in the palm of your hand - the slogan for the theater-like experience promised by the Samsung Galaxy S. All Halo inspired themes aside, it’s a pretty cool commercial, though you have no clue what it’s about until the very end. Microsoft states that “the commercial in question is not sanctioned by Microsoft.” However, whether or not Microsoft will want to have the look alike Master Chief hero pulled from the air is not known at this point.
Check out the ad for yourself below.
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Halo: Reach leaks out…via Xbox Live
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Bungie, Corporate News, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
Keeping in tradition with Halo 3 and Halo 2 before it, the Halo series has managed to fall into unsavory pirate hands yet again with Halo: Reach. How did the leak occur, you ask? Directly from Microsoft’s own servers on Xbox Live. This is because Bungie provided authorized reviewers with the codes to download the game which is currently on display in the Xbox Live Marketplace. However, having Reach hiding in plain site wasn’t clever enough to keep the modders from getting their greedy little hands on Reach a full month early.
With Reach already floating around on some torrents out there and in the hard drives of a climbing number of peoples computers, you can expect details from the games story to begin surfacing online. Futhermore, I can safely predict that there will be another epidemic of eager gamers playing Reach online and subsequently being caught and banned from Xbox Live. Microsoft claims that they are “aggressively investigating” the leak, as I’m sure they are furious, but expecting, of the incident. While Halo has been plagued with early downloads, video games don’t suffer from the same stigma of illegal Internet downloads as music, and the sales don’t seem to decline any. Anticipate Halo: Reach to do big numbers on its release date regardless of the incident.
Halo 2600 Takes Master Chief Back In Time
While the original Halo: Combat Evolved may look as ancient as they come to some of today’s gamers, the former VP of Microsoft’s game publishing division was curious to how Halo would fare in the retro days of Atari 2600. The result? Halo: 2600! Halo 2600 began as a way for Ed to get his hands dirty in some 2600 code work, but the resulting experience transformed into a complete retro classic showcased at the Classic Gaming Expo. To solidify the retro experience, Halo 2600 even sports a cartridge modeled in true 2600 fashion. Below, Ed discusses his experience making Halo 2600, and a bug that seems to fit into the Halo experience:
“It’s around this time that I discovered the existence of what I call “Magic Land”. I was working on a bug with the boss encounter and accidentally found myself completely outside the 64 room map. I was wandering through memory that was never intended to be interpreted as part of the map but the code was doing the best it could to interpret what was being thrown at it. Strange, misshapen monsters attacked me in even stranger ways as I wandered through this bizarre land that I had unintentionally created. I left a bug or two in the final game to allow others to find and explore this strange landscape as I did.”
While waiting for Halo: Reach to hit stores, get your Master Chief fix here.
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| Halo 2600
Halo: Reach introduces Forge World
Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
It’s no shocker that Bungie’s Halo: Reach finale is going to be epic, to say the least. But no one was prepared for just how ambitious the last Halo world would be. That is, until ‘Forge World’ was shown for the first time. In fact, epic is an understatement referring to Forge World. To envision the vastness only a word such as ‘Brobdingnagian’ is befitting. To put it simply - you are not ready.
By now you’re scratching your head wondering “what the heck is Forge World?!” Basically, Forge World is five multi-player maps rolled into one - Canyon, Island, “The Rock,” Quarry, and Coliseum. Each of these maps is set in a different location of the colossal map. In Forge World the player is god, able to customize these areas as they see fit, à la the forge editor from Halo 3. However, unlike Halo 3’s forge editor you are given more options to create developer worthy maps. In fact, Bungie had so much fun in forging these new maps that they even added six of their own Forge World creations to be put into regular game rotation in Halo: Reach’s online multi-player. One of which is a remake of the classic ‘Blood Gulch”, now called ‘Hemorrhage’. To get an idea of the scope of Forge World, Hemorrhage is like a mere sandbox in the middle of the desert.
Bungie is aiming to have gamers create their own multi-player maps with newer forge tools that allow greater creativity. In this new Forge World you will have access to about 150 transferable objects. Thankfully, the physics of objects can be altered accordingly to make mid-air and other placements easier. Also, you now have the ability to “phase” objects into other parts of the map, creating whole new structures and consequently different ways to engage in combat. Created maps can then be “tagged”, allowing other gamers to download them. Think of Forge World as your own personal Inception - “it’s pure creation”. With even more objects to place, a much larger scale world, and the player’s own creativity driving them, we can expect to see some insane multi-player maps start to surface immediately after D-day (September 14th).
Read More | Bungie.net
Halo Reach launch date: September 14
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Release Dates, Xbox 360,
Hot on the heels of the Halo Reach beta coming to an end, Bungie has just announced that the full game will be launching on September 14, 2010, and will be available in three versions:
- Halo Reach Standard Edition will cost $60
- Halo Reach Limited Edition will include the game, exclusive in-game Elite armor, and an artifact bag containing Dr. Halsey’s personal journal will cost $79.99
- Halo Reach Legendary Edition will include everything that the Limited Edition includes, plus UNSC-themed packaging, exclusive multiplayer Spartan armor, and Noble Team collectable statue. This will cost $149.99.
We are just under four months away.
Early Halo: Reach multiplayer beta code giveaway!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Microsoft, Video Games,
If you own an Xbox 360, then we’re fairly confident that you’re salivating over getting early access to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta. Sure, the beta goes public on May 3rd, open to all who have a copy of Halo 3: ODST, but who wants to wait 4 more days to get in on the action if you can have it today? Yep, that’s where we come in. We’ve got a bunch of Halo: Reach beta codes that we are going to be giving away today, and if you get one, you’ll be able to download and play the Halo: Reach beta today! So, how do you enter to win one of these super-exclusive codes? Here’s your answer:
- If you don’t have one already, sign up for a Twitter account
- Follow the Gear Live Twitter account
- On Twitter, post this tweet about our contest: “Hey @gearlive hook me up with a Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta code please! http://bit.ly/haloreachbeta” (Click here to tweet this now)
That’s it! You must be following the Gear Live Twitter account, because we will be sending the codes to the winners on Twitter via DM, and if you aren’t following, we can’t DM you. Simple as that. Again, we’ve got a bunch of these, so you have a good chance of walking away with a code! We will start choosing winners this afternoon.
Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta Trailer Released
Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Action, Bungie, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Release Dates, Xbox 360,
The trailer for the beta version of the newest addition to the Halo family, Halo: Reach, drops today. From the footage it looks completely insane and has some pretty cool additions to make the multi-player aspects of the game that much more intense. For example, now when you headhunt people they collapse slowly to the floor shooting dozens of flaming skulls out of the tops of their heads. What, that isn’t normal? I know when I creep around Seattle in my ninja costume from 5th grade this happens all of the time when I come upon some hapless fool who has wandered into my territory. Well, maybe not quite; replace ‘shooting flaming skulls out of the tops of their heads’ with ‘stare at some idiot dressed in his pajamas from Christmas 1988 who just threw a plastic ninja-star at them’. Yep, that about sums it up. I am so alone.
Beyonce Dominates Grammy Nominations
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Artist News, Awards, Dance, Hip-Hop & Rap, Pop, R&B / Soul, Rock,
Beyonce Knowles has been nominated for ten Grammy awards.
The “Halo” singer and Taylor Swift - who has been recognized in eight categories - were revealed as the most nominated artists at yesterday’s Grammy Nominations Concert Live! event. The two stars will be competing against each other for the coveted Record, Song and Album of the Year prizes.
Kanye West, soul singer Maxwell and the Black Eyed Peas all received six nominations, while Jay-Z, French DJ David Guetta and Lady Gaga are each up for five awards.
Lady Gaga’s The Fame and single “Poker Face” were both nominated in the top categories while the Peas are in the running for Album of the Year (The E.N.D.) and Record of the Year (“I Gotta Feeling”). Kings of Leon‘s “Use Somebody” made the list for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Dave Matthews Band’s Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King was the final nomination for Album of the Year, while Maxwell’s “Pretty Wings” rounded off the Song of the Year nominations.
The 52nd annual Grammy Awards will take place on January 31 in Los Angeles. You can find a complete list of nominees here.
Beyonce Knowles: Bodysurfer?
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Concerts / Tours, Gossip, Videos, R&B / Soul,
Beyonce Knowles definitely knows how to put herself out there.
At a London concert earlier this week, Beyonce surprised fans with a rock star move during her performance of “Halo.” (Cue the video to the :20 mark to see the singer dive into the crowd.) Not only does she entrust the attendees to carry her around, she manages to simultaneously carry a tune.
See, Britney? It is possible to sing live and entertain your audience at the same time.
Read More | Perez Hilton
Halo 3: ODST Firefight map screenshot blowout
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Bungie, First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Screenshots, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
One of the biggest updates coming in Halo 3: ODST is the addition of the Firefight mode. Firefight lets you team up with three other friends to take on round after round of enemies. It’s a nice divergence from the standard Halo 3 multiplayer fare, and makes ODST a very attractive package. I was able to spend about 90 minutes playing Firefight yesterday, and I’ve gotta say, I can see this being a new favorite. Firefight is to Halo 3: ODST what Horde is to Gears of War 2 - it allows you to team up with friends against a common enemy, and it doesn’t end until all four of you are dead at once.
We will have our Firefight impressions up in just a bit, but for now, check out all the screenshots we’ve amassed of the maps we were able to check out. There are definitely more, but what we’ve got for you is a look at Crater (Night), Security Zone, and Alpha Site. Have a look at our Halo 3: ODST Firefight Map Screenshot gallery.
Gallery:
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